Labor Day Weekend

We are in Seattle this holiday weekend for three Mariner games and lots of fun in-between. We made the drive yesterday and arrived in town at 3:45pm and headed straight to our daughter's new apartment to help her move. Isn't that what parents are for?

It's a cute house or triplex (old house converted into 3 apartments) where she will be in the top floor apartment living with a new roommate. This will be her 4th place in 4 years with her 4th new roommate. Do we see any trends here?

We like this new place located on a nice, quiet street in a neighborhood with lots of trees (and 5 blocks from Trader Joe's).

It seems like a normal neighborhood with families instead of her usual high density location of busy, coming and going tenants of all kinds. (including a pimp who lived next door in her first place!) And the biggie…she has her own parking space. That is huge.

Bruce carrying her ~50 pound antique typewriter that was my mom's

If she didn't have her own parking space in the alley behind the house, she would have to get a zone parking permit to park on the street. The parking culture in Seattle is something you must be well versed in if you live there and we know it well.

We went back to her old place to get one last load - and had to park in the alley (and block it hoping nobody would come) since there was no parking at her old place.

I hope this isn't a sign.

The property management had already sent out the cleaning service to prepare the old place for the new tenants.

That's about what I'd look like when I'd clean her room, too. Interestedly, she had cleaned the place really well before they came…

We were able to get everything in this last load since she had been working all day yesterday to move everything else over.

Good-bye little house on Roy St. We'll miss Top Pot Doughnuts but we won't miss the parking issue.

And off to unload all her worldly possessions.

At least her worldly possession don't include "legs" like in this truck… You never know what you're going to see in Seattle.

Back to her new place and finish the unloading.

We returned in time to meet her new roommate who was just getting home from work at Cupcake Royale and she brought us a treat! Wow! What a nice girl! The flavors were Red Velvet, Tiramisu, Cream Bruele, and Chocolate Covered Cherry.

And the eating frenzy begins in Seattle! Every visit I have to pace myself because there is too much delicious food in this city. Now that our daughter was settled in, her new roommate was home, we could see they were bonding well. It was time for us to make our exit. On to the Mariner game.

Before we entered Safeco field, we decided to get a bite to eat at Pyramid Alehouse which is across the street.

The cupcakes were just an appetizer, now it was time for some real food.

We started out with a beverage…so delicious.

It felt good to relax. Now it was time to get some nourishment…and then off to the game.

I love going to Safeco Field when you have a full tummy from a good meal, a little tired from a busy day so then you can just relax and enjoy the beauty of the stadium and watch our favorite game.

Unfortunately, the Mariners got off to an ugly start with the Angels getting a 3 run homer in the first. Not a good sign…

And so the game continued and the Angels kept racking up the runs for a final 9-1 loss tonight. But we did get our excitement when a streaker ran out onto the field!

This is the second time we've been to a game when there has been streakers. It's so funny! I can't figure out how they get down on the field and do that without somebody seeing them to stop them. And the players just stand there and watch. It's so hilarious.

With a high scoring game (not in our favor) and a streaker, this was a long game and the seagulls got impatient and started moving in on us! They began circling around waiting for us all to leave so they could eat all our garbage! It's an interesting sight which happens at a lot of games. (the long ones)

Our first day in Seattle was a busy and fun one, as usual. And more to come.

Meatloaf by Mark Bittman

Once again, I turned on the television yesterday and saw that Mark Bittman was on the Today show and was making his version of meatloaf . This must be meatloaf season. It was surprisingly similar to the Pioneer Woman's version who was also recently on. I was a little surprised of his version because Mark Bittman is into healthy eating and has lost a lot of weight and improved his health by changing his diet which he writes about in his book, Food Matters . His meatloaf recipe also included bacon and cheese! I must be doing something wrong. The thing to remember, which he writes about in his book, is that you can eat healthy without going extreme or changing your whole life. If you don't know who Mark Bittman is, he is a food writer and a four star chef with multiple cookbooks who loves to eat but changed his food philosophy to improve his health. He tells his story in Food Matters and provides a plan for responsible eating that covers a no-nonsense rundown on

Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Oatmeal, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't have very many gluten-free cookies on my blog because quite frankly, I usually don't like gluten-free. But occasionally, I do find a good recipe and this is one that is from the back of the Trader Joe's oatmeal and it's a good one. My friend brought some over to our house last weekend when Nick and family were here for our birthday celebrations and we all loved them. My friend lives a few blocks away and we walk the neighborhood together on weekends. We can easily go 5 miles in no time, talking non-stop. She loves exploring our neighborhood as much as I do and we discover so many favorite little spots. We even found a property with a horse (or more like a pony, I should say.) The views are always quite lovely, too. Bruce and I had our thirty-ninth wedding anniversary on July 18th and I made a point of walking past the house where we had our wedding reception. I told my friend, "Thirty-nine years ago today, there was a big party go

Waking Up in Vegas

and just like that...we were Waking Up in Vegas. Just like the Katy Perry song. We went to her 78th performance which was her second-to-last Las Vegas residency show entitled "Play". That was perfect for us because we went to Vegas simply to play. Her concert was a great finale for us because it was high energy and full of silliness, just the way Katy Perry is. And we were feeling it after three nights in Las Vegas. "Get up, and shake the gutter off your clothes now, That's what you get for waking up in Vegas". Here's what she said about her show: "I created this show after the birth of my daughter, Daisy Dove. When I met her, it was like all the love I was ever searching for finally showed up. This show is for everyone’s inner child and for the hope that maybe if we could all see life through the eyes of a child, we would be free. Because never forget, love is and will always be the key,” she said. We went to Vegas spur of the moment because Br

Sylvia's Scenario

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